Quantitative Literacy: Everybody's Orphan
PKAL 2002 Summer Institute - Cluster I
May 29 - June 1, 2002

Workshop Abstract

As we cross the threshold into universal post-secondary education in a society dominated by computers and data, the three R’s of an earlier age now loom as a major challenge for higher education. The third R is no longer arithmetic; it is a complex and intellectually demanding, often flying under the rubric of quantitative literacy, or numeracy.

Quantitative literacy (QL) has been described in various ways, aiming at a description of the ability to understand and use quantitative inferences that allow one to function as a responsible citizen, productive worker, and discerning consumer. Over the past year, a national conversation on education for QL has produced significant analyses of issues in education for QL. This workshop will draw on those analyses and the resulting ongoing activities to forge possibilities for meeting the QL challenge to higher education.

Because analyzing and reasoning using data and numbers are ubiquitous in life and in almost all collegiate disciplines, QL is critical for both general education and education in depth. Yet, no discipline claims responsibility for QL education; thus, it has been termed everybody’s orphan. This workshop will address ways to adopt QL into a college curriculum. Resources for the workshop will include:

Case studies of QL education

• The 2001 publication, Mathematics and Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy
• Proceedings of the 2001 National Forum, Quantitative Literacy: Why Numeracy Matters for Schools and Colleges
• Volume of nine papers on QL commissioned for the 2001 National Forum
• Work of and plans for expansion of the National Numeracy Network
• Curricular materials for QL through courses, in disciplines, and across the curriculum

Workshop Planners

Susan L. Ganter, Workshop Leader, Clemson University
Richard Bennett, National Council on Education & The Disciplines
Michael E. Boardman, Pacific University
Caren L. Diefenderfer, Hollins University
Jerry Johnson, University of Nevada-Reno
Bernard L. Madison, University of Arkansas & Mathematical Association of America
Gillies Malnarich, Evergreen State College
Lynn Arthur Steen, St. Olaf College
H. Leonard Vacher, University of South Florida

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